Summer OUTside

I was thinking about this the other day when I was writing my earlier screed against the lack of imagination that many people frame “outdoors” with. This summer we went to Fire Island, to the same town my brother and I were brought to as kids. The reason I loved it so this time was that there were very few consumer opportunities and absolutely no cars. Most of us were stripped of our #2 possession (our Motor Vehicles) and had to make do with the one market, 1/2 a restaurant, gift-shop, ferreteria (Hardware Store, I love that word) and ice cream stand (unfriendly’s ice cream). What we ate, for the most part we brought. The kids had the run of the place because they couldn’t get run over. My two oldest could Shepherd the little ones about safely(they can swim and have good judgement), while the little ones loved being away from the mommies and daddies. I saw these two photos today and that was what made me think of this.

Time away from cars is a rare and precious commodity. You do need them in 99.99% of the untied states because of the bass ackwards public transportation and infrastructure decisions that our politicians made under the influence of auto, oil and construction money. But when you can get away from cars, your life is good. The five days that I spent on Fire Island with my family and my brother’s family were five of the best days I’ve had in years. I got to spend quality time with great people. There were fewer decisions to be made and more time to just talk.

Time OUTside is a Lure

Tomorrow I think I’ll add a long entry about how much fin I had on Fire Island with my family.

While I was trawling for other things to include in here I became aware of how “tenuous” 1st drafts are. As I work on revising my dissertation I have to be aware of how much clarification my (academic) writing needs.